Listening
by superkappa
Summary: AU after 3x07. What if Arthur had sent Mohinder to help Elle with her malfunctioning power instead of Sylar?


Title: Listening

Characters: Mohinder, Elle (not really shippy, but kind of?)

Rating: PG

Summary: AU after 3x07. What if Arthur had sent Mohinder to help Elle with her malfunctioning power instead of Sylar?

Mohinder took a deep breath as he made his way to the cell Arthur had sent him to. He was surprised by the order, as he had assumed that his research was on top of Arthur's list of priorities. Apparently, whoever was in here, they were important. Or powerful. Or probably both.

He opened the door carefully, surprised by the complete lack of light in the room. This was worse than a cell, it was practically like a dungeon. Why would they keep someone in this sort of environment? "Hello?" He called out carefully.

And before he heard any sort of verbal response, he heard a familiar crackle of electricity. He took a cautious step closer to the figure there on the ground. Though it had been a while, he knew who it was without even getting a closer look. How many petite blondes in the world could control blue sparks?

"Elle?"

And finally, she spoke, her voice sounder weaker, more fragile than he remembered it being from back when they worked together at the Company. "…Suresh? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to check up on you. I've heard you've had trouble controlling your power lately. I'm supposed to be finding out why that is."

Elle flinched as her body began to spark wildly, a low whimper escaping her lips. It was so strange, seeing the sharp shooter he had once known seem so weak now.

"What happened to you Elle?" He asked carefully, grabbing her wrist carefully to take her pulse. Once she started sparking again though, he had to drop it, frowning. How was he supposed to help her when he couldn't even touch her without getting hurt?

"What didn't happen to me?" Her voice was sharp, and bitter. Once again, blue sparks enveloped her and she cried out, curling up in a tighter ball. "Sylar killed my father, and he tried to kill me. But I short circuited, but stopping him wasn't good enough, since I accidently let out all of these other killers, all of which are much more easily caught than Sylar, but try telling that to Mama Petrelli. She threw me out, and I didn't know where to go or what to do. And then my powers started malfunctioning, and I came here, and they locked me up like some beast. All I want is the pain to go away. Everything hurts." Her voice sounded choked up.

"I don't know how to help you Elle, but I swear, I'll find a way to get you better. I'm trying to find a cure for the side effects of my own po-"

Elle cut him off, turning her face to look up at him. "Since when did you get powers, Fight Club?"

Mohinder couldn't help but smile a little at that comment. That was the Elle he knew. "I thought I had a formula perfected to give people powers….but it wasn't quite ready yet. That's why I'm here, at Pinehearst, to try to prefect things." He paused for a moment. "Perhaps it's best it is so dark in here. I doubt you'd like to look at me much right now."

As soon as he said that she held a hand up, letting it crackle with electricity to light up his face. She brought her other hand up, letting it brush against the scales. "Now you're a monster, just like me."

Mohinder stared at her at the comment. There were so many things he wanted to argue about it. Just because he looked monstrous now…it didn't mean he was really turning into a monster, right? He had done some things he wasn't proud of, but those were merely the side effects of his power. As soon as he got the formula perfected, he wouldn't have to worry about anything like that. He'd never cocoon anyone up again. But he didn't say any of that. He kept it to himself, instead, merely saying. "I never saw you as a monster, Elle."

"But I am," She muttered, crying out in pain as her body shocked itself once more. "If I hadn't been so selfish, so determined to keep my own job, save my own skin, I could have stopped Sylar, helped him so the only person he had ever killed was Brian Davis." Another shock and a cry of pain before she continued. "If it weren't for me, your father would probably still be alive, Suresh. Mine too."

He didn't know what to do with all of this information. It was a lot to take in. He hadn't even known Bob had died, though that probably explained part of what was going on with Elle. It seemed like her issue was more psychosomatic than anything else. Which made it much more difficult to fix. "What do you mean, you could have stopped him?" He asked softly.

"I could have left him to hang. I didn't have to bring Trevor over as a sacrificial lamb. I could have said fuck it to the company and just left him alone, but I didn't do any of those things. I goaded him on; I pushed him to kill again." The shocks that were assaulting her body were becoming more frequent as her words became more strained. "Maybe I should have let him kill me."

"No." Mohinder shook his head. "It's not your fault. Even if you…as you said, goaded him on, the choice to kill was always his own. Perhaps you should have done things differently, but it's not your fault." He brought a hand up to cup her cheek, trying to ignore the pain from her sparks. "I'm sorry to hear about your father. I know painful that can be."

"…I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, Suresh. Daddy had everything planned, and now he's not here, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Though he couldn't see much, from the sound of her voice, that choked up, clogged up tone, he knew she was probably crying. "You live Elle. That's all any of us can do. We can live and try to make better choices then we have in the past. You can't change what's already happened, but you can change what will happen."

"Do you really think so?" Her voice perked up just a little as the sparks began to die down.

"I certainly hope so, at the very least." He replied with a small laugh.

"The pain…it's gone…thank you."

Mohinder blinked a little in confusion. "What did I do?"

"You listened."


End file.
